Tag Archives: microbes

Microbes have been in the news a lot lately, usually as part of a video or story about the problems they cause, as with the case of Listeria in ice cream.

Listeria is a terrible bacteria that lives in soil and water and can spread to and thrive in food processing plants. Getting rid of Listeria requires cooking and pasteurization, which helps before food is cooked, but not afterwards when it’s packaged. Listeria is hard to eliminate because it grows in cold temperatures.

But not all microbes are bad. Many, in fact most, are actually good.

As part of his TED talk, microbiologist Dr. Jonathan Eisen talks about how microbes play a role in our defense, boost our immune system, protect our auto-immune system, fight off stress, and more. In addition to Dr. Eisen’s video, here are more sites to help you learn about the benefits of microbes:

Microbes are all around us, and researchers are studying how microbes live and evolve to see how they can benefit us, such as to improve our health or create new products.

Dr. Lydia Contreras and her research group are studying how microbes live in toxic environments. (Dr. Contreras is an Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin).) What they discover could help build new molecules to act as early warning systems for preventing disease.

Learn about the benefits of microbes with Dr. Contreras at the next Hot Science – Cool Talk presentation, Better living through microbes, on Friday, May 1, 2015. The lecture starts at 7:00 pm in the Welch Hall Auditorium on the UT Austin campus. Be sure to get there early because the community science fair with lots of fun activities starts at 5:45 pm.

I published her interview in seven parts with cool planetary graphics from NASA/JPL-Caltech. Click on the videos below to learn more about the possibility of life on Europa, planetary science, and the amazing trajectory Dr. Schmidt took to become a planetary scientist.

What can learning about ice on Earth tell us about possible single or multicellular life on Europa? Dr. Schmidt talks about the trapped lakes under the surface of one of Jupiter’s moons that might harbor life.

If we discovered life on Europa, would we start a robotic space race to get there? Would scientists dance in the streets or would such a discovery cause great scientific or social revolutions? Dr. Schmidt shares her thoughts about what might happen after such a fantastical discovery.

Dr. Schmidt talks about the incredible tidal forces exerted by Jupiter and its Galilean moons that bring chaos to Europa, but also give it the energy and heat that may make it possible for Europa to sustain life.

If we can find microbes living between ice crystals on Earth, can we find life on icy Europa too? Dr. Britney Schmidt describes Earth’s environments and creatures, such as ice loving cryophiles, that can help us understand the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Why does Dr. Schmidt find Triton so compelling? If you’re looking for a young surface, covered in methane, with a bizarre geology, look no further than Triton. Oh, and did we mention cryovolcanism too?

Dr. Schmidt looked to musicians as modern day poets and never pictured herself in a lab coat. Discover Dr. Schmidt’s remarkable journey after her class in planetary science, when she felt the gravitational pull to physics to pursue her passion for researching Europa.

If we can find microbes living between ice crystals on Earth, can we find life on icy Europa too? Dr. Britney Schmidt describes Earth’s environments and creatures, such as ice loving cryophiles, that can help us understand the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Dr. Schmidt is a research scientist at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. Her talk, “Life on Europa? Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon”, is part of the awesome Hot Science – Cool Talks series, presented by the Environmental Science Institute.

This is part five of Commander Ben’s interview series with Dr. Schmidt.